The key facts
- 23 vehicles collided on the morning of November 9 on Těšínská Street in Orlová; six people sustained minor injuries
- Among the damaged vehicles was a fire truck; the ambulance, according to a police clarification, was not involved in the accident
- Traffic is closed, and police and municipal services are directing traffic
Mass crash on an icy road
On the morning of November 9, a mass traffic accident involving 23 vehicles occurred in the Czech city of Orlová, leaving six people injured. According to the ČTK news agency, the preliminary cause of the collisions was black ice. The first report of the accident came in at around 05:30 on Těšínská Street in the Poruba district: initially it concerned a single crash in which a driver may have been trapped, but while rescuers were on their way to the scene, several more collisions occurred on the icy road.
The injured and the response of emergency services
Medics provided assistance to six injured people — all were diagnosed with minor injuries, and five were taken to hospitals for examination; according to doctors' preliminary assessment, their lives are not in danger. One of the fire trucks that arrived at the scene was involved in the crash, and among the damaged vehicles was also a car belonging to the prison service. It was initially reported that an ambulance was involved, but the police later clarified that it had not been part of the collisions. Four fire crews were dispatched to the scene, and due to the low temperature, a bus was arranged for those involved in the accident so they could warm up.
Consequences for traffic
Traffic on the accident section is completely closed; police officers together with municipal services are directing traffic, and investigators are establishing the circumstances and sequence of the collisions. Separately, Life.ru previously reported a mass accident at the 45th kilometre of the Moscow Ring Road, where a collision of several vehicles on the outer side of the ring road near exit No. 45 caused a traffic jam 5.2 kilometres long: traffic toward the Kyiv Highway was moving in only three of the five lanes. What these two incidents have in common is the weather factor, but they are separate accidents in different countries, and no direct connection between them is indicated in the reports.
